IDF Demolishes Home of Terrorist Who Killed Two Soldiers, Wounded Civilians

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Rubble left from the destruction of Asem Barghouti’s home in Kabar on March 7, 2019. Photo: Israel Defense Forces.

JNS.org – The home of Asem Barghouti, who shot and killed two Israeli soldiers in December at a bus stop in Givat Asaf and assisted his brother in an attack that led to the death of a newborn baby, was razed to the ground by Israel Defense Forces in the early morning hours on Thursday.

Unlike some demolitions, in which Israel breaks the homes of terrorists but leaves them reasonably intact, the demolition of Barghouti’s house in Kobar, near Ramallah, reduced the two-story house to a pile of rubble.

Barghouti was arrested in January for the Dec. 13 attack that killed Cpl. Yosef Cohen and Sgt. Yovel Mor Yosef, and seriously injured soldier Netanel Felber and civilian Shira Sabag.

He was also charged with aiding his brother, Salih Barghouti, in committing an attack on the Ofra bus stop on Dec. 9, which injured seven Israelis, including Amichai and Shira Ish-Ran, who was seven months pregnant. Shira was evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital in critical condition and underwent an emergency Cesarean section to attempt to save the life of her baby, who died days later.

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Salih Barghouti was shot and killed by Israeli troops while attempting to evade arrest on Dec. 12.

“This morning, soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces working with the Border Police and Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration demolished the home in which the terrorist Asem Barghouti lived in the village of Kobar,” the army said in a statement.

On Jan. 20, the IDF notified the Barghouti family of the impending demolition. The family appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, but the judges upheld the order.

Justice Neal Hendel wrote in his ruling, “I will make do with saying that the secret material which we have examined, with the petitioners’ consent, unequivocally supports the first option (demolition), and teaches that the general deterrence effect is still valid. I will add that the material presented is comprehensive, complete and balanced, and in many ways even surprising in its intensity.”

The family of terrorist Arafat Irfaiya, who raped and murdered 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher on Feb. 7, was notified on Wednesday that his home would also be destroyed in Hebron.